Bring back boredom

Timeless masterpieces have been created out of such states of ennui – as long as those who were bored were geniuses, that is. It was one such talent, out of the lack of anything better to do, who went back to the workshop and tinkered around until a turbine had been devised that needed only a quarter of the normal fuel. But this invention didn’t catch on because you couldn’t actually buy fuel in Poland at that time, so there was nothing to save. Another story I once heard was of someone messing up a recipe only to be left with thousands of baskets of rock hard, unappetising croissants. The bakers sat crestfallen at the back of their kitchen thoughtfully gnawing on the horrible stale buns, until one of them had a flash of inspiration. They came up with a catchy name and hired a dozen or so vendors to push carts around the city, d soon people were queuing up for ‘Kraków bagels’. On another occasion, someone was once sitting absent-mindedly poking into the s